DIY Stained Wood Shim Starburst Mirror

I am absolutely thrilled with how my DIY stained wood shim mirror turned out. I know there are a zillion tutorials out there for making mirrors like this. However, I think I am the only crazy one that sanded and stained 315 wood shims. That part was not for the weak of heart. Me-oh-my! But I love it, I love it, I love it and don’t regret the decision for one minute!

I swear in nearly every Better Homes & Gardens picture I see of a bedroom there is a starburst mirror above the headboard. I have fallen in love with the classic look of these mirrors. I was drooling over a few but they never went down in price ($300+!) so I decided it was time to make one.

1. I started by sanding each of the 315 wood shims I used. You don’t have to do this but some of them are really rough so I thought to make it look as nice as possible I would spend the time sanding them.

2. Next I stained all of them with the 4 different shades of stain. I didn’t stain the entire thing just the edge I was using, the tip and down the sides (this saved on stain).

Here are the the colors so you can see the different variances in the wood tones.

3. I put them together the way I liked them. I tried not to make a pattern and be as random as I possibly could – which was hard for me. I used a paint can in the middle so I could line them all up.

4. I grouped them together in stacks of 9 and glued them together with the Loctitie Power Grab Adhesive in the pressurized can. It was awesome and super easy to use. Because it did such a great grab of holding I didn’t have to use clamps. Bonus! On each additional stack of nine I used the previous stack to line up the shims so they were exact to each other. No worries if a little of the glue seeps out, go ahead and wipe off the excess – it does dry clear.

5. Then I cut out a circle-ish piece of 1/4” luan with my jigsaw. I flipped over all my stacks of shims (so the unfinished side was up) and glued each of them with the Loctite Power Grab together. Then I glued the luan on top of that. I let it sit overnight with some weight on it.

6. The next day I glued the mirror on with the Loctite PL520 Mirror adhesive. It is very important to use the right kind of adhesive with mirrors or else it can pull up the silvering on the back. I let that sit overnight with some weigh on it to.

7. Since it weighed a ton, I used a french cleat on the back of mine. All you have to do is attach it to the mirror and attach the other side to the wall and it locks in place.

I was going to put it over my bed but it was too big so I ended up putting it in my previous guest room with the serpentine dresser and coral lamp in my old house. The overall finished size was 34” in diameter.

Well, that is hard to say because of dry time. I worked on it over a three day period. The first day I spent four hours sanding and staining. The next day I spent a couple gluing them all together. The last day I added the mirror. It definitely wasn’t a quick project, but I love how it came out!

Is it weird that I’m in love with that picture of your shims on the garage floor showing the different stains!? SO pretty! And the final reveal is gorgeous too! Great job… I might break out my wood shims and actually try again!

Yeah, I surprised myself a little with my patience with the sanding. I knew it was necessary though to get a better finish so I suffered through. 😉 I am loving it over the dresser too even though it wasn’t my original plan. Thanks so much!

This is beautiful. The different stains add depth and movement, you did a great job and the tutorial is excellent.
Shims are neat. Thinking that faux pallet art could be done with a couple of packages of shims, low cost and big fun.
Thank you for the delightful inspiration.

You are one amazingly patient DIY’er! I would go bonkers on that “little” craft. Congrats and I love it! Great work Beckie! And I have to add that the piece of furniture you have looks like MMS type furniture. I think she would be all over that piece! Have you ever tried her paints?

I just love how the blogging world creates friendships among women who have blogs. What a GREAT benefit to the blog work–create, share, inspire, have fun, and meet other amazingly talented women with similar interests and passions!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!! I have seen so oooo many sunburst mirrors but this is by far THE MOST BEAUTIFUL!!! I am going to try &; tackle this for my bedroom! Love the different stains you chose! Bravo!!

Very nice! I made one out of dowels 2 yrs ago. I painted them in silver metallic paint. Turned out beautiful. I may have to make all these mirrors in this column on Zite.
BTW….I also have that same dresser. Did you add that decorative scroll at the bottom? I treasure that dresser. Many hours of sweat and tears to sand and stain went into it.
Just love your mirror!

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